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Research project A life course perspective on bereavement in childhood and health problems in adulthood

The overall aim of the project was to examine whether bereavement (i.e. death of parent or sibling) during different stages in childhood (0-18 years) influences mortality and disease in adulthood.

Most research in the field of bereavement and health have so far studied health consequences by familial loss in adulthood while health effects by bereavement in childhood is less studied. By applying a life course perspective on bereavement the aim of the current project is to examine whether bereavement (i.e. loss of parent or sibling) during different stages in childhood influences mortality and disease in adulthood. Life course theory contributes to an understanding of how effects by bereavement occur and can be prevented.

Photo: Doug Olson/Mostphotos

Project description

Bereavement during certain developmental stages may leave a permanent scar on the child’s emotional development but it may also be a part of a broader clustering of adverse exposures in childhood which accumulates throughout life. The death of a family member and the following grief process could also be seen as a fundamental exposure, setting off a chain of negative events that ultimately leads to poor health.

We used registry data of individuals born in 1973-82 (n~900 000) who will be followed prospectively in several registers from age 18 until 2013 when they are 31-40 years old and The Stockholm Birth Cohort Study (SBC) that includes all individuals born in 1953 (n=14,294) who were living in Stockholm ten years later and can be followed in registers and surveys until age 55. A cohort design was used and data was analysed using primarily hazard regressions and methods suitable for associations in life course perspective.